World Famous Comics: The Shining (Two-Disc Special Edition)
The Shining (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Starring: Jack Nicholson, Shelley Duvall, Danny Lloyd, Scatman Crothers, Barry Nelson Directed By: Stanley Kubrick Average Rating: Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 Audience Rating: R (Restricted) Binding: DVD Format: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC Label: Warner Home Video Number of Items: 2 Region Code: 1 Release Date: October 23, 2007 Running Time: 142 minutes Theatrical Release Date: May 23, 1980
Description: ?Heeeeere?s Johnny!? In a macabre masterpiece adapted from Stephen King?s novel, Jack Nicholson falls prey to forces haunting a snowbound mountain resort with a macabre history.
Amazon.com essential video: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel than a complete reimagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his wife and young son. Kubrick's movie is an existential Road Runner cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer, who's settled in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the director's fanatical demands for take after take after take.) The Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might expect. When it was redone as a TV miniseries (reportedly because of King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980) was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide... --Jim Emerson
Amazon.com: Stanley Kubrick's The Shining is less an adaptation of Stephen King's bestselling horror novel than a complete reimagining of it from the inside out. In King's book, the Overlook Hotel is a haunted place that takes possession of its off-season caretaker and provokes him to murderous rage against his wife and young son. Kubrick's movie is an existential Road Runner cartoon (his steadicam scurrying through the hotel's labyrinthine hallways), in which the cavernously empty spaces inside the Overlook mirror the emptiness in the soul of the blocked writer, who's settled in for a long winter's hibernation. As many have pointed out, King's protagonist goes mad, but Kubrick's Jack Torrance (Jack Nicholson) is Looney Tunes from the moment we meet him--all arching eyebrows and mischievous grin. (Both Nicholson and Shelley Duvall reach new levels of hysteria in their performances, driven to extremes by the director's fanatical demands for take after take after take.) The Shining is terrifying--but not in the way fans of the novel might expect. When it was redone as a TV miniseries (reportedly because of King's dissatisfaction with the Kubrick film), the famous topiary-animal attack (which was deemed impossible to film in 1980) was there--but the deeper horror was lost. Kubrick's The Shining gets under your skin and chills your bones; it stays with you, inhabits you, haunts you. And there's no place to hide... --Jim Emerson
This shine needs some polish Yes Kubrick was a great director but this was a mess of a miss. Read the book and see why all the real horror did not make it to the screen. The movie had way too much lighting in it to be scary as well. When I saw this in the theatres everyone booed the anti-climactic end. Kubrick never learned how to make a great horror film. Jack Nicholson over-acting all over the place does not make a great film. If there was ever a reason for Hollywood to re-make a horror film ah la The Omen.....well lets go-Im waiting. Just not Tom Cruise. Boooo!!!!!
Jack Nicholson rules!! Ok, this is the real deal. I have never seen a better horror performance since this movie. Jack Nicholson creates a very spooky enviroment around the creepy hotel in the middle of nowhere. The extra content is pretty cool too. Two thumbs up! You cant get any better than this in the genre.
Why Nicholson is the face of horror It might be hard to tell if he's really acting or just being himself. Jack Torrance. . .aka Jack Nicholson, the winter caretaker for the Overlook Hotel, descends into madness as he succumbs to the psychic presences in the hotel - and it's a delightful transformation! Stephen King's novel is closely followed, despite a few glaring omissions that might even have pushed Jack's character too far off the deep end to be tolerable. An eerie and inspiring film for any dark night!
worse adaptition I ever watched this movie is lame. it just destroid all that was eerie and poetic in the book. the fact that Jack is actually possesed by evil spirits simply shocked me, for the entire purpose of the book was to show he's (Jack's) ineer conflict. Nicholson was the only good actor in the movie, but the dierctor just told him to do the wrong things. and Danny is talking to himself (to Tonny, that is) via his finger?! what the f@#k! the story line cannot even stick to the rater simple (but nontheless teriffing) miniplot of room 217! why not?!
the book is oh so much better than this pathetic spectacle of crap. read the book, than don't watch the film.
DVD extras Since I suspect that most people reading this have already seen "The Shining" and already have an opinion, I'm not going to comment on the plot. Instead I'm going to review the extra features.
"Crafting the Shining" - This was the first DVD extra that I watched, and I enjoyed it a lot. I thought it was a concise, well done look behind-the-scenes with a lot of interesting trivia and interviews.
"Visions of Stanley Kubrick" - This is a short homage to Kubrick. It looks at all of his films to showcase the sort of artist he was.
"Making of the Shining" - This is the exact same documentary as on the "Collection" VHS tape. However, a nice addition is the option of listening to a new commentary by Vivian Kubrick. I enjoyed hearing her stories. She had the unique perspective of being a 17 year old bystander on the set. I wish they had asked her to take part in the commentary for the full movie on disc 1.
"Wendy Carlos" - This is an interesting look at the musical sequences that didn't make it into the final cut of The Shining and Clockwork Orange.
Disc 1 special features - The only extra feature on disc 1 is the commentary by the steadycam operator and a Kubrick biographer. This commentary is why I gave the dvd only 4 stars instead of 5. The biggest disappointment was that they repeat a lot of what was already said in the extra features on Disc 2. The two commentators were recorded separately and then spliced together. The steadycam operator was humorous to listen to and he also keeps you interested because of his unique perspective as a crew member on set almost every day during filming. The biographer's commentary, on the other hand, was disappointing. A few of his comments were insightful, but everyone watching with me felt he sounded pompous. A lot of his comments sound like an art critic fawning over Kubrick while pointing out the obvious. Suffice to say, I wish they had paired the steadycam operator up with someone different for the commentary. It's a shame they couldn't get Nicholson or one of the other actors to provide commentary. I would have enjoyed it more listening to a second person who had actually been there during filming.
Overall, I felt it was worth paying the extra money for this 2 disc dvd as an upgrade from my old VHS copy. The picture quality looks good. I'm happy with my choice. But anyone who isn't a huge fan will probably be completely satisfied with the cheaper 2001 "Kubrick Collection" dvd instead. You are basically paying the big price difference for this special edition only to get 3 short featurettes, Vivian's 30 minute commentary, and a very mediocre full-length commentary. According to Amazon's editorial, the old "Collection" version was supposedly the aspect ratio that Kubrick approved of, anyways.
A five star movie, but only a four star "special" edition.
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